Robert Kubica

Robert Józef Kubica (born 7 December 1984) is a Polish racing and rally driver, competing for AF Corse in the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship.

He previously competed for Team WRT where he won the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship in the LMP2 class.

In 1998 Kubica became the first foreigner to win the International Italian Junior Karting Championship.

Kubica also scored second place in the European Junior Karting Championship and won the Junior Monaco Kart Cup held on part of the Formula One Grand Prix track.

A year later, he defended his title in Italy and also competed in the International German Karting Championship.

He also won the Monaco Kart Cup for the second time in a row, as well as the Margutti Trophy and Elf Masters races.

In 2000, his last season in karting, Kubica scored fourth places in both the European and World Championships.

Kubica started his professional career in 2000, as a test driver for a Formula Renault 2000 car.

During his first professional season in Formula Renault, Kubica scored his maiden pole position and also became a member of Renault's driver development programme.

At the end of the year he took part in a Brazilian Formula Renault 2000 race held at the Interlagos circuit.

This one-off appearance resulted in a dominant win.

After Formula Renault, Kubica moved to the Formula 3 Euro Series.

However, his move was delayed by a road accident which left him with a broken arm, and titanium screws holding it together.

In 2002 Kubica won four races and scored a second place in the Italian Formula Renault 2000.

He was also seventh in the Formula Renault Eurocup.

Between 2006 and 2009 he drove for the BMW Sauber F1 team, promoted from test driver to race driver during 2006.

He was the first and so far holds a record, for being the only Polish racing driver to compete and win a race in Formula One which was the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix, making his latest appearance in the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.

In June 2008, Kubica took his maiden and only Formula One victory at the.

That season he led the championship at one stage, before finishing fourth overall, his best career position.

Kubica drove for Renault in and was set to remain with the team in.

Several years later Kubica confirmed he had signed a pre-contract for the season with Ferrari, a move that was eventually cancelled by his devastating rally crash in early 2011.

On 6 February 2011, Kubica was seriously injured in a crash at the Ronde di Andora rally, in which his right forearm was partially severed.

He was taking part to better his skills.

Kubica told Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport in a bedside interview that he could feel the fingers in his right hand and was determined to make a swift return to Formula One in 2011.

Since his return to good health, however, he initially stated that a return to Formula One would be "nearly impossible" because of his injury.

Since then, he took part in tests with Renault and Williams, admitting that a Formula One return in the near future was not impossible.

Kubica returned to racing in September 2012, winning a minor rally in Italy.

Kubica was named one of "The Men of the Year 2012" by Top Gear magazine for his return to auto racing.

In 2013, he drove for Citroën in the European and World Rally-2 Championships.

He went on to win the inaugural WRC-2 title, and moved to the WRC championship full-time in 2014, driving a Ford Fiesta RS WRC prepared by M-Sport.

On 16 January 2018, it was announced that Kubica would become the reserve driver of Williams for the 2018 season.

On 22 November 2018, Kubica was announced as a Williams race driver for the 2019 Formula One season.

He left the Williams team at the end of 2019, moving across to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, while maintaining a Formula One presence as reserve and test driver for Alfa Romeo.

He has made several appearances during practice sessions in his role as test driver, and he replaced Kimi Räikkönen at the Dutch and Italian Grands Prix in 2021.

Kubica developed his love for all kinds of cars at the young age of four when he spotted a small off-road vehicle, powered by a 4 bhp petrol engine.

After long talks with his parents, his father Artur bought him the car and young Kubica spent long hours driving around plastic bottles.

When he got older it became apparent that he needed better equipment, so his father bought him a go-kart.

However, Kubica was too young to start racing in the Polish Karting Championship as he was under the age of ten.

When he entered the championship, he won six titles in three years.

After his third season, Kubica decided to switch to a more competitive series in Italy.